AYJ comment: Oakhill STC Urgent Notification

Commenting on the announcement (14 October) that Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, and the Care Quality Commission has triggered the Urgent Notification process for Oakhill Secure Training Centre, Pippa Goodfellow, Director of the Alliance for Youth Justice said:

“We are deeply concerned for the safety and wellbeing of the children who remain at Oakhill Secure Training Centre, condemned by inspectors as being unfit and unsafe for children. This Urgent Notification marks the third time in just a fortnight that inspectors have highlighted significant concerns about the treatment of children in Secure Training Centres. While the findings make for shocking reading, it is unfortunately not surprising given the long history of failures of these institutions.

In February 2017, the Youth Custody Improvement Board underlined the importance of reforming the youth custody system, and identified the fundamental problem as a lack of national vision for the youth secure estate. They concluded that Young Offender Institutions and Secure Training Centres were not fit for purpose, due to ‘a deterioration in the quality of provision, a demoralised staff group, insufficiently good leadership and an increase in violence’. In the same year, the then Chief Inspector of Prisons stated in his annual report that the state of affairs was ‘dangerous, counterproductive and will inevitably end in tragedy unless urgent corrective action is taken’.

Nearly five years later, it is abundantly clear that these consistently stark warnings have not brought about the radical and urgent action that is required. The government must act now to set out a clear national strategy, drawing on expertise from across the sector, and significantly accelerate the pace of change.”